Kickbacks

In 2005, California real estate mogul Terry Fancher wanted to entice public pension systems to place hundreds of millions of dollars in investment funds he managed. Bypassing seasoned Wall Street advisors such as Morgan Stanley or Credit Suisse First Boston, he turned to Darius Anderson, a young and ambitious Sacramento lobbyist known in the Capitol for his political connections and fundraising prowess.

California and three dozen other states formed a task force Friday to investigate whether the abuses alleged at a New York state retirement fund are taking place at public pension agencies across the country. The announcement marks the latest expansion of a pay-to-play probe that has increasingly revealed California connections. New York Atty. Gen.

A multimillion-dollar pension-kickback scandal widened further Thursday as a consulting firm for a Los Angeles city retirement fund was sued by federal regulators and one of its partners was arrested on criminal charges. Aldus Equity was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with civil securities fraud for allegedly making improper payments to win business managing money for a New York state pension fund.

An investigation of alleged pension-fund improprieties that already has entangled New York state officials, a key Obama advisor and a well-connected political consultant has now reached a Los Angeles agency that invests more than $10 billion for retired city firefighters and police officers.

A Los Angeles investment firm run by a well-known Southern California political operative has become ensnared in a widening probe into the fees paid to advisors who help place investments in public pension funds. Wetherly Capital Group has come under scrutiny for a $313,750 payment it made to a firm run by a New York political advisor who was arrested last month on charges of running a kickback scheme involving New York state's pension fund.

The state Supreme Court overturned hundreds of juvenile convictions issued by a corrupt judge who took millions of dollars in kickbacks from youth detention centers. The court ruled that former Luzerne County President Judge Mark Ciavarella violated the constitutional rights of youthful offenders who appeared in his courtroom without lawyers between 2003 and 2008. Federal prosecutors charged Ciavarella and another Luzerne County judge, Michael Conahan, with taking $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in privately owned lockups.

President Obama wants to take money away from charities. Which is awesome. Only he doesn't go far enough. His proposal, which Republicans and Democrats both hate, would force rich people to deduct only 28% of their charitable donations, instead of 35%. This change would have two obvious disadvantages: It's boring and requires math. A simpler solution would be to eliminate everyone's tax break for donations. Now, I like charities.

The former senior vice president of City of Angels Medical Center pleaded guilty Wednesday to paying illegal kickbacks to recruiters who referred homeless patients from skid row to the hospital, where they received unnecessary health services. Dante Nicholson, 51, of Palmdale was the third person convicted in a widespread scheme to pay illegal kickbacks and defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal by recruiting homeless people from skid row in downtown L.A.. Appearing before U.S. District Judge George H. King in Los Angeles, Nicholson pleaded guilty to two counts of paying illegal kickbacks.

Eight chiropractors, three office administrators and an attorney were arrested and charged in Orange County this week after an undercover operation allegedly caught them in schemes to defraud insurance companies through illegal patient referrals, kickbacks and overbilling for procedures that were never done, authorities said Wednesday.